Hamburg – DNV GL invites industry partners to start a Joint Industry Project (JIP) for improving the collection and assessment of site conditions data for offshore wind farms. Aiming to increase the efficiency of collecting site conditions, the new JIP will work with stakeholders from across the wind industry. The knowledge generated from the JIP is planned to be ultimately incorporated in a DNV GL recommended practice.

The design of an offshore wind farm is dependent on the quality of the calculated site conditions used to derive the design parameters. To achieve an optimal quality in data collection and assessment, extensive and costly investigations are needed at a very early stage of the development, long before final investment decision is made. A recommended practice will allow stakeholders to improve their planning, investigation and design.

“The development of this recommended practice will create an industrial consensus on an agreed set of practices to follow for the analysis of the system and its validation. This will allow stakeholders to increase transparency and reduce the risk in the early phases of the development,” says Kim Moerk, Executive Vice President for Renewables Certification at DNV GL.

Incorporating the experience and objectives of stakeholders along the wind energy value chain will add significant value for all parties involved. They will be able to contribute and influence the development of the assessment criteria to ensure their concerns are covered, practices are acknowledged and the objectives of all stakeholders are met. The involvement provides early access and insight into the results, ensuring participants are best prepared for its implementation.

The smarter E Europe and its four energy exhibitions Intersolar Europe, Power2Drive Europe, ees Europe and EM-Power will not take place this year. On account of the increasing spread of the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) worldwide and in response to recommendations from the German federal government as well as the Bavarian state government, the organizers have decided to cancel the exhibitions and the accompanying conferences originally set to take place from June 16–19, 2020. The smarter E Europe will take place again from June 9–11, 2021.

Renewables covered around 52 percent of gross power consumed in Germany during the first quarter of 2020. This all-time high was driven by a combination of one-off events. Preliminary calculations by the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) and the German Federal Association of Energy and Water Management (BDEW) yielded this figure. February’s record winds were followed by an unusually sunny March. Power consumption was also down by one percent from the same period last year.

The company plusAmpere introduces an innovative “reflector and calculation system” offering an efficient and inexpensive way of increasing the overall yield of existing and newly planned photovoltaic and solar thermal facilities.